Travel Lightly! Packing For Two Weeks In Europe

Packing is an art, and I haven't mastered it yet. I know what to do, I simply have a hard time sticking to it! For our recent trip to Italy, I used the following packing list. It is a great tool, and if I had limited myself to only what is on the list, I would have been satisfied. As it was, I added a few "extras, " thus, over packing once again. If you stick to this list, you will have everything you need. Try it!

Clothing:

· 3 pairs of walking/comfortable shoes (1 tennis shoes, 1 sandals, 1 flats)

· 1 rainproof jacket with hood

· 1 pairs of shorts (shorts are fine on the beach, but not in churches; capris are OK anywhere)

· 2-3 pairs of pants or capris (one dressy, one or two casual; cotton blend dries faster than jeans.

· 1 pair yoga pants for lounging

· 1 belt

· 1 swimsuit and towel

· 3 pairs of socks (cotton blend)

· 5 pairs of underwear (quick dry)

· 1 extra bra

· 4-5 shirts or nice tops (long or short-sleeved)

· 1 light cardigan for layering

· 1 below knee length skirts

· 1 dress

· Hat

· Scarf

· Vest or Fleece

· Sleepwear



· Toiletries/Medicine:

· Body soap/ washcloth ( many European hotels do not supply washcloths)

· Toothbrush/toothpaste/floss

· Shampoo/conditioner

· Brush/comb

· Sunscreen

· Razor (non-electric)

· Insect repellent

· Prescription drugs (in original container with your name and your doctor's name)

· First aid kit

· Feminine hygiene products

· Deodorant

· Nail clippers/file/tweezers

· Spare glasses and/or prescription, mini-eyeglass repair kit, or contact lenses and supplies

· Hand sanitizer

· Vitamins

· OTC remedies (whatever works for you): Pepto Bismol, Ibuprofen

· Travel clothesline, soap

· Baby powder (many uses, including dry shampoo for hair)

· Small make-up bag

Find Great Hotel Bargains Using Trip Advisor

TripAdvisor.com is dominant and powerful, yet with a few little tips, you can put the website to work for you. Trip Advisor is always my first step when planning travel.  A hotel is only a bargain if it has everything you want, so using Trip Advisor as a tool to narrow important options is as beneficial as reading reviews! Once you have your criteria narrowed, it is helpful to read reviews written by people who have actually stayed in the hotels. Although you will always find both positive and negative, you will be able to discern threads of consistency among the reviews. I use the following steps to begin planning my hotel stays.
 
Open tripadvisor.com and put in your city and “hotels” in the box asking where you are going and what are you looking for. If you don’t know your dates, use approximate dates, making sure the days of the week are similar to yours. Now check the amenities you must have, such as free wireless internet. Use this tool judiciously, checking only those amenities and location you must have.

Next, sort the available hotels by ranking.  Never check price on a first search because you don't want to rule out a hotel based on price. Remember, you are looking for a bargain, not a cheap hotel. Even if you have a specific budget, don't rule out the possibility of a great deal for your preferred hotel on another web site. What you are doing is becoming familiar with the market.
 
After you have narrowed hotels by ranking, begin to read what people are saying. Rule out hotels with only one or two stars in “traveler reviews.” If a hotel has more than 100 reviews and they are averaging 1 or 2 stars, it doesn’t matter whether or not it is a 4 or 5 star hotel, it isn't going to be a great deal if people who have stayed there say it is crummy! Look for threads of consistency in reviews. You will see patterns in the reviews.
 
At this point you will start to see which hotels are within your price range and which ones are totally out of bounds. Sort the results once more for price, low to high, noting the traveler ratings. When you scroll down look for hotels with very low prices and really good ratings. Jot them down!

Continue to read and sort in a variety of ways. You will come up with a few hotels that meet your needs. Now go to the individual hotel website and find the best prices offered by the hotel. Don’t forget your AAA, AARP and Military discounts. Continue sorting and reviewing until you have the hotels you want.

If there is no penalty for cancellation, make a reservation right away. You will want to hold the room while you continue to search. I often make three or four reservations while I search.
 
Next step is to check Expedia, Booking, Kayak, or Travelocity to make sure you have the best bargain! I usually try to book directly with the hotel if the prices are within a few dollars because I have found you get better rooms and service if you book directly with the hotel. Although I will address it more at a later date, I am a huge proponent of staying with a hotel brand and signing up for their preferred client clubs. We have received amazing deals from hotels and resorts simply because we belong to their preferred club.

As soon as you make a final decision, cancel the other reservations and relish the bargain you just found!

Good luck!



Next post:  Get The Bargains Without The Junk Mail

Do You Need The Whole House? Try A Vacation Rental.

“The Whole House. The Whole Family. A Whole Vacation.” That is the Home Away motto. Airbnb, VRBO, Home Away, and Flipkey are all competitors in the short-term rental market. If you are looking for something other than a typical hotel room or resort, these sites are for you! Home Away and VRBO are actually the same company and are among the most reputable, well known vacation rental places. Airbnb is an up and coming vacation rental site with a worldwide following. While Home Away, VRBO and Flipkey rent the entire house, with Airbnb, you can rent a room in a house.

I have used all four to book properties for our extended family; a 6 bedroom house in Hawaii, a 5 bedroom villa in Italy, a 10 bedroom house in Leavenworth, WA, an 8 bedroom house in Lincoln City, OR, a 4 bedroom condo in Miami, FL, a 4 bedroom home in Napa, CA, and others. Our group has much experience vacationing in rental homes and we know what to expect from start to finish. Following are some things we have learned.

Choose the location and accommodation based on the needs of your group. All three companies allow you to narrow your search to rentals that will accommodate you. When you select the parameters, you can also choose to rent pet friendly homes, homes with a swimming pool, hot tub, etc.
If you have a very large group, book EARLY! I have been taken aback, even when booking a year out, to find so many great homes that are already reserved. I booked our Hawaii and Italy rentals two years prior to our trip. It may be hard to get a large group to commit that far out, but if you want a great place at a bargain price, you have to be the early bird! For smaller groups it is not quite the issue, but for the best location at bargain prices, you want to book early.

Once you have narrowed your results to a few available properties, send a request to the manager or owner inquiring about the property. Request information about the final costs, including cleaning fees, a deposit, and taxes, as well as any other questions you have. The request doesn’t commit you to anything, but does give you more information. When you have received replies from several, you are ready to make a decision and send a deposit. Be sure to read the fine print about deposits! Sometimes you have less flexibility in canceling a vacation rental.

 Bear in mind, when you book a vacation rental, you don’t just walk out when you vacation is over. When you leave a vacation rental, the expectation is that the towels will be piled, the floors swept, dishes done and everything back in place. It takes a bit of time, but it is worth the effort. When we do inter-generational travel, we send the kids on their way and clean up after they are gone. When they are older, it will be a great experience for them to learn the art of caring for the property of others, but for now it is easier to clean up after the little ones are gone!

Last, try tripping.com to search all of the vacation rental sites. According to their website, “Tripping.com is the world's largest site for vacation homes and short-term rentals. With over 5 million properties in 100,000 destinations, Tripping.com makes it easy to compare vacation rentals from dozens of top sites…” Although I just discovered the site and haven’t had the opportunity to use it, it will be on my radar when search for great rental sites.

Do You Love Special Offers But Dislike The Junk Mail That Comes With It? Here Is The A Solution!

Do you love to get great travel offers and discounts from companies, but do not want your personal e-mail box filled with junk mail?  So do I! You can solve the problem by creating a mailbox just for travel offers.  Yahoo and Google, as well as many others, offer free e-mail addresses.  Why not set one up just for your travel information and sign up for offers with the new address.  You can then receive e-mail offers from Groupon, Living Social, Yipit, Jetsetters, airbnb, hotels, airlines, etc.  Check it at your leisure and never have excess mail in your personal e-mail account.

Here’s how!  Go to an e-mail provider, choose a unique name for your travel address, such as “vickitravel@provider.com” and sign up for a new e-mail address.  Bookmark the site.  When you sign up for special offers, use only this e-mail address.

You can also create folders in the left column of the mailbox which allows you to identify purchased travel or mail you want to keep for reference. I have ten years of travel documents in my travel folders. I name each folder with the place and date of the trip.  Each folder serves as a great reference when I want to recall where we stayed or how much I paid for a hotel or airline ticket.   It also serves to separate the documents from each trip.  When you receive an e-mail confirmation, just move it to the folder you have identified for that trip. When you find a travel site you love, or if you make travel arrangements, use your travel e-mail address and never receive junk mail in your personal inbox.

Next post:  Home Away, VRBO, airbnb

Finding The Best Airfare

Timing is everything when it comes to booking airfare.  Time your purchase wisely!  Most airlines consider 21 days out, an advance fare ticket. Be sure to book on the outside of that window or you will be paying top prices for last-minute fares.

Try to be flexible with your travel dates.  The simple economics of airfare travel will tell you that the more people who fly on a given day, the more each seat will cost.  Try to fly mid-week, or if you plan to fly somewhere for a holiday, fly on the afternoon of the holiday.

Use a site such as Kayak to get an idea of the cost of your airfare, as well as the best places to purchase the ticket.  Change dates and times within a few days so you can compare prices. After you get an idea of the cost, go directly to the airline site and check their prices.  It is always a good idea to check some of the smaller airlines' ticket costs, also.  Airlines such as Southwest Airlines don’t always show up on price searches and are often less expensive because they don’t offer some of the frills of the bigger airlines, such as advance seating assignments.

Check airline websites for a few days in a row to see if prices change. Book as soon as you find a fare that fits your needs.  There are times you can get lower fares by waiting, but more often the discount fares offered by each airline will diminish as time goes on.  If you wait until the last minute, it is worth it to try priceline.com where you can name your own price.  Who knows, maybe your fare bid will be accepted.

Next post: Trip Advisor

"Cheap" and "Bargain" Are Not The Same

Five years ago I retired from my work as a school counselor. Since that time, my husband and I have visited Italy, Greece, Spain, Portugal, Turkey, England, France, Germany, Lichtenstein, Switzerland, Austria, Mexico and Canada, most countries more than once.  In that same time period, we have also traveled to New York, Hawaii, Disney parks in Florida and California, Alaska, Nevada, Minnesota, Montana, Yellowstone National Park, the Grand Tetons, the Grand Canyon and many local areas.  We have also taken numerous cruises to the Caribbean, Bahamas, Mediterranean, and Mexico with more on the docket.


I am frequently asked how we travel as we do, when we are retired educators.   Bargains, bargains, bargains!  Now that we have more time than money, I spend endless hours looking for the very best bargains.  Sometimes it means booking travel more than a year in advance and sometimes it means booking at the last minute, but generally it means deciding where we want to go and spending endless hours looking for the very best deal.  

As much as I love the actual trip, just as much, I love the aspect of bargain shopping. A great deal is irresistible to me!  It doesn't matter what I am shopping for, if it is a great bargain, it intrigues me. Now, I should probably clarify that by "bargain" I don't necessarily mean "cheap." I am fond of nice things in all aspects of my life and travel is no exception. You can definitely find cheap travel anywhere, but it is not my thing. I am interested in sharing how I find great deals and bargains in vacation travel.

In this blog, I will share the process I use to develop a great vacation. When I find spectacular deals, I will post them, but I also want to teach the art of creating a vacation. It is time to start painting the travel canvas!

 
Next post:  Finding The Best Airfare